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The micro-blogging site Twitter is all set to turn an online shopping forum for the twitteratis as it is going to introduce a new “buy now” button which will allow the retailers to embed into their tweets.

On just click of the new Twitter button, the users can buy a wide range of products including apparels, footwears, home decors and many more items.

The ‘buy now’ button feature is currently on trial in the US and as the positive feedback comes, Twitter will launch it for the global audience.

Currently, the small-scale trial service is mostly offering music downloads from artists like Ryan Adams for sale.

With the advent of the new ‘buy now’ button, the retailers or those who want to be a seller can make their tweets more creative. In a tweet with a brief description followed by a product image, a ‘buy now’ button would be like icing on the cake.

On the click of the button, the user lands on another screen, mainly the concerned website, where further details of the offered product and range of related products will be provided.

Retailers like Burberry and The Home Depot and musicians like New Pornographers and Megadeth are trying their hands during the trial period of the feature.

“This is an early step in our building functionality into Twitter to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy, hopefully even fun. Users will get access to offers and merchandise they can’t get anywhere else and can act on them right in the Twitter apps for Android and iOS; sellers will gain a new way to turn the direct relationship they build with their followers into sales,” Tarun Jain of Twitter said in a blog post.

Meanwhile, Twitter says more music artists and prominent brands will be joining soon.

Very sad new for Big Brother Africa fans.M-Net and Endemol SA advise that due to a devastating fire at the Big Brother house on 2 September 2014, Big Brother Hotshots will not launch this Sunday (7 September) as schedule. The cause of the fire at this stage is unknown and investigations will commence as soon as it is safe to do so.

At this stage M-Net and Endemol are urgently looking for an alternative Big Brother house in which to film the production, however as this production has highly technical infrastructure, camera and edit requirements an alternative is not immediately available. Every effort will be made to find a solution as quickly as possible to ensure that Africa’s biggest reality show will continue.

The Big Brother Africa house is based at the Sesani Studios in Johannesburg. Thankfully no one was injured.

More Swag, More Glamour, More Big Brother Africa! The continent’s biggest reality show returns for its ninth season on Sunday 7 September with the housemates competing for a massive prize pot of USD 300 000 – with more twists than ever before! AfricaMagic can reveal that the new season will be known as Hotshots. This season’s housemates have hidden talents, they adore the spotlight and will let nothing stand in the way of their pursuit of fame & fortune.

M-Net Africa Regional Director (West Africa), Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, says the viewers are in for almost as many surprises as the housemates. “We work hard to make each season of Big Brother Africa bigger than the last – and we’ve really upped the ante this year,” she says. “Big Brother Hotshots is going to bring viewers exciting innovations, heart-stopping twists and uniquely African glamour, 24/7 for 91 days. Both fans and housemates are in for some unmissable television!”

The housemates will start the game in two ultra- glamorous houses which are built with magic, fun and mischief in mind. For 91 days, they’ll do their best to outshine each other in the hope of convincing Africa that they’re the continent’s biggest Hotshot. They’ll party like A-listers, rub shoulders with celebrity guests and face formidable challenges – all while negotiating Biggie’s famous curveballs and twists.

The logo for Big Brother Hotshots hints at the glamorous aspects of this season – but viewers will have to stay tuned 24/7 to see what Biggie has planned for the talented group of housemates!

What would Big Brother Africa be without a fantastic host to help give the housemates a chance to shine? Nigerian star IK Osakioduwa returns for his 6th stint as host and will taunt, tease, comfort and dance with the housemates on the Big Brother stage.

Produced by Endemol South Africa, Big Brother Hotshots kicks off on 7 September at 19:00 CAT and run 24/7 on DStv channels 197 and 198, with the best of the live highlights shown on GOtv. With less than four weeks to go, follow the action in the lead-up to the Premiere on social media by following @BigBroAfrica, liking www.facebook.com/BigBrotherAfrica or go to the official website at http://www.bigbrotherafrica.com .

Recently named People’s Most Beautiful Person, Lupita Nyong’o continues to shine as the star of Miu Miu’s new eyewear campaign. The actress looks ultra cool in the ad while rocking a pair of oversized retro shades from the brand’s spring/summer 2014 collection.

The Oscar-winning actress—who was named a face of Miu Miu, along with Elizabeth Olsen, Elle Fanning, and Bella Heathcote, in January—appears in the retro-inspired ad wearing a pair of frames designed by the Italian fashion house (Olsen, Fanning, and Heathcote also have individual ads). The campaign was shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin in New York City and also includes a colorful and quirky video starring the young Hollywood talents who are all clothed in the label’s collection.

Much like Miu Miu’s spring 2014 campaign video starring the four actresses, the eyewear ad features techno sounds as the screen flashes quickly between shots of each of the stars.

One of the most talked about “Fast and Furious 7” spoilers is the inclusion of Paul Walker’s brothers in the new installment. Fans can’t wait to see Cody and Caleb fill in the role of their older brother. I’m pretty sure it must be difficult for the two to act like they were the late Paul Walker.

In an interview with Associated Press, Cody Walker opened up about his feelings regarding his brother’s untimely death. He said, ‘It still doesn’t feel real, because sometimes, working in this industry, making films, he’d be away from his family three, four, six months at a time, you know. And my only interaction would be a phone call. So, I know it’s going to take a while.”

Paul Walker’s 25-year old brother was asked about the movie, but he refused to give out any “Fast and Furious 7” spoilers. Cody simply said, “I can’t talk about that.” However, just recently he got the fans of the race car film franchise excited when he posted a photo of himself together with his brother on Facebook.

The picture showed the siblings looking exactly like the late Paul Walker and at their back is a helicopter. Cody captioned the photo, “Not a bad way to get around the UAE!’ The cast and crew are filming in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Vin Diesel also shared a photo of himself together with Cody and Caleb Walker on his Facebook page. It is a closer shot of the brothers and you will really see their resemblance on the late Paul Walker. The 46-year old actor wrote on his page, “After spending time with his biological brothers, I must say to the parents, you raised some great kids.”

The cast and crew weren’t the only ones who were proud of Cody and Caleb. Their mom Cherly Walker told E! News, “I’m very proud of them.” She added, “It is bittersweet for them to do this. They are happy to honor their brother and finish the project.”

Paul Walker’s mom also revealed, “Both Cody and Caleb have had a wonderful time on set and are treated very graciously by the people.” That’s really nice to know because just like what the producers said, Fast and Furious is all about family. I will update you with more “Fast and Furious 7” spoilers real soon.

Update: According to CNN, Dolce & Gabbana fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana lost the appeal to their 18-month suspended prison sentence, in Milan late Wednesday. Attorney Armando Simbari said the case will now be appealed to Italy’s Supreme Court. Last July, the twosome said the prison sentence and fines would cause their namesake labels to shutter.

The original article continues below.

Yesterday, nearly a year after first being sentenced to jail time for tax-evasion, Dolce & Gabbana designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana were found guilty once again. Though the new sentence shaved two months off the original jail sentence, from 20 months to 18 months, and was suspended jail time, the designers’ lawyer Massimo Dinoia guaranteed another appeal according to Women’s Wear Daily, “I am speechless and astounded, this sentence is inexplicable. After all, the general prosecutor already realized there was really nothing. We will surely present our appeal to the Corte di Cassazione. This is an unfair verdict and we are sure the Cassazione will reform it.”

The investigation, which was started in 2008, when Guardia di Finanza began investigating the designers after the 2004 sale of the Dolce & Gabbana and D&G brands to Luxembourg holding company Gado s.r.l., which was seen as an attempt to avoid Italian taxes. After originally being cleared of tax-evasion charges at a 2011 trial, the Corte di Cassazione overturned that decision and another trial began that December and wrapped up, in June 2013. The ruling yesterday was the appeal from the June trial.

Dolce and Gabbana, whose celebrity clients include Penelope Cruz and Madonna, have always maintained their innocence and did not appear in court for the ruling. This isn’t the first time that an Italian luxury company has run into trouble with the government. According to the Guardian, Giorgio Armani paid €270 million in taxes in April, to settle disputes regarding subsidiaries abroad, and Prada Holdings reportedly paid up to €420 million in December.

Dar es Salaam – Mejah Mbuya hops off his bike outside a building that seems to be unoccupied.

“There used to be a plaque around here somewhere,” he murmurs, searching in vain. The building is in central Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s steamy port city, and looks like many of the other older buildings in the area, in need of repair and dwarfed by proliferating highrises.

“Anyway,” Mbuya says, “this is the former head office of Frelimo.”

The Mozambique Liberation Front, or Frelimo, was founded in Dar es Salaam in June 1962. The movement used the Tanzanian capital as its home base for 13 years, until Mozambique achieved independence in 1975.

Mbuya is the co-founder of a unique tour company called Afri Roots. Along with safaris and treks, it also offers walking and cycling tours in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s booming economic and cultural capital that is also steeped in the history of Africa’s revolutionary past and struggle against colonialism, as well as the struggles of African-Americans.

Tanzania, which marks its 50th independence anniversary this year, once served as the headquarters for Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) and the fight against apartheid, something that has been all but forgotten by many South Africans and even many Tanzanians.

Mbuya hopes to change that.

“I want Tanzanians to know their history. It’s something that they should know and be proud of,” said Mbuya, who looks much younger than his 39 years, dressed in cargo shorts and an Afri Roots T-shirt, his dreadlocked hair bound in a do-rag.

“But I also want to share this history with the rest of the world, especially those in South Africa. There’s a lot of xenophobia in South Africa right now. They’re worried that people from other parts of Africa will come and take their jobs. I want South Africans to remember the huge debt they owe to Tanzania, and other African countries as well – the price that others paid for their freedom.”

In 1960, after the Sharpeville Massacre, both the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were banned by the apartheid regime. Its members fled into exile and many were welcomed into Tanzania, then the newly independent and African Socialism-inspired nation of Tanganyika.

Mandela himself arrived in 1962 seeking financial and military support, and the ANC set up their office in Dar es Salaam – just across the street from the FRELIMO building. Military training camps were set up in the towns of Morogoro, Mbeya and Bagamoyo.

The tour with Afri Roots, which begins in the steam and stench of the fish market, continues to the New Africa Hotel, once a popular meeting spot for ANC members and other freedom movements and immortalised by the Polish journalist and writer Ryszard Kapuscinski.

“One can spot sitting at one table Mondlane from Mozambique, Kaunda from Zambia, Mugabe from Rhodesia. At another, Karume from Zanzibar, Chisiza from Malawi, Nujoma from Namibia…” Kapuscinski wrote in his book “In The Shadow of the Sun”, describing the scene in the hotel in the early 1960s.

“In the evening, when it grows cooler and a refreshing breeze blows in from the sea, the terrace fills with people discussing, planning courses of action, calculating their strengths and assessing their chances.”

Next stop is a building where African-American icon Malcolm X stayed when he visited in 1964 – since converted from an old hotel into modern office space that is in high demand in the east African trade hub.

The itinerary continues to the New Zahir restaurant, still bustling with a lunchtime crowd, and where Argentinian revolutionary Che Guevara – who went by the codename “Tatu”, Swahili for “three”, while undercover in the city – dined with Congolese comrades before their ill-fated campaign in the jungles of the Congo.

Leaders of the Black Panther Party also spent time in Dar es Salaam, Mbuya shouts over his shoulder as the tour continues. Many were inspired by Julius Nyerere, Tanzania’s socialist and pan-Africanist president from 1964 to 1985.

“Black power” philosopher Stokely Carmichael visited in 1967, while fugitive Panther Pete O’Neil went into exile in Tanzania – where he remains to this day, albeit far inland from the hustle and heat of Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania’s honeymoon with African-Americans soured in 1974 after the revolutionary visitors were implicated in using the city to smuggle weapons. The entire community was rounded up and thrown in jail.

At the end of the tour and over a large glass of sugarcane juice, Mbuya bemoans that while Tanzania gave so much to the great struggles of the 20th century, the country itself remains underdeveloped.

“Tanzania was like a candle,” he said. “It gave light to others that needed hope, but in the process it burned itself down.” – AFP